She froze as she stared at the nozzle of the pistol.

Suddenly her heart was racing, as all around her people were screaming.

In a distant part of her mind,she could hear the commotion of car tires screeching,people running and the sound of glass breaking.

This is it. She thought to herself.

"GET OUT OF THE CAR....,NOW!!!" came the loud voice from behind the gun.

Then she heard the gun shot.

It was a loud explosion that seemed to erupt from inside the car as she felt a vicious spray of warm liquid  on the side of her face.

She screamed and turned her head a split second before Clement's body was violently thrown against her from the Driver's side.

In the moments before she passed out, she saw fresh droplets of blood everywhere.The side of Clement's face was a large gaping bloody hole of shattered skull fragments and pieces of brain matter.
Oh My God! He's been shot. She thought just before she fainted.


The two masked men pulled the unconscious girl out of the car.
One of them hoisted the girl's limp body over his shoulder.

The other,(the one who shot the driver)stood guard as his colleague loaded the girl's body into the trunk of a waiting car.

All around them,was chaos as people screamed and ran blindly in all directions in a bid to get away from the armed men.

Several cars slammed into each other in panic.

A young girl fell headfirst into a nearby gutter.

The Driver of the waiting car, was the Third masked man.He sat behind wheel....waiting.
.
In a flurry of movements,the two masked men jumped into the waiting car and it sped off.




CHIEF AMADI sat in the living room of his mansion cradling his youngest daughter's head in his arms.

As Cynthia cried into his body, Chief Amadi prayed silently in his heart that this was a dream.
He prayed that once he closed his tear filled eyes one more time, this nightmare would be over.

But as he opened them again, he knew it was real.
Cynthia continued sobbing  as more police men entered their residence.

This was real.

Inspector Usman sat across from the Billionaire Chief and his famous actress daughter.

There were no words for this sort of situation.
Chief Amadi stared at Cynthia with tears in his eyes as another wave of sobs passed through her.

"I just can't believe this is happening" Cynthia sobbed.
She had only just returned from set a few hours earlier to hear that her elder sister had been kidnapped.

"Sir, I  just want you to know that all our resources are focused towards your daughter's safe return."
The Inspector said  carefully as Police Presence increased.

"Do you .....have any leads?" Cynthia asked as her father rubbed the back of her head.

She looked worn out, sad, frustrated and confused all at once. It was hard not to feel sorry for her.The Inspector thought.

"I promise you....we will find her... its clearly motivated by money...the kidnappers will....."

"WHAT IF ITS NOT.......?" Cynthia exploded as she shot to her feet.Her father tried to hold her back but she wrestled herself away.

"......WHAT IF SHE'S ALREADY DEAD....LIKE THEY KILLED THE DRIVER.....AND...AND YOU'RE HERE....(sob) WASTING TIME!!!!" All the Policemen (plain clothes or otherwise) turned to view the commotion caused by the distraught young lady
.
The  Chief got up and put an arm around his daughter.

"Its okay" he whispered.
But Cynthia seemed miles...no centuries away from okay.

"....FIND MY SISTER!!!!" then she exploded into a series of uncontrollable sobs.

The Chief silently signaled one of the maids to come over.
The traumatized  Cynthia was led away from the living room.

LONG SILENCE.

The Chief stood in the center of his living room surrounded by Policemen.He was a man of means and power.Now he just felt as impotent as an infant.

He regarded the Inspector in silence.

" Come with me" he ordered the Inspector as he made for the Balcony.
The inspector followed.

The House itself was immense, the Inspector thought as they reached the Balcony.

It easily had over Fifteen rooms.The yard was enormous(like golf course enormous) there were at least Thirty luxury vehicles Parked in front of the house.

Inspector Usman wondered how many yearso f his current salary could buy him a place  like this.

From the balcony, he could see most of Port harcourt, which he thought was really cool.

The chief stared at the city in silence.

"What will it take for you to find her ?" the Chief asked without turning around.

The Inspector knew this question was coming.
Men like Chief Amadi were not used to problems money couldn't solve.

He was desperate.The Inspector thought and he knew that desperate powerful men were dangerous.

"As I told the Commissioner this evening, we are working hard to ensure your daughter's........."

".....what are the chances that she is still alive?" the chief cut in.

Inspector Usman hated that question .

To be fair,there was no real answer for it.

In a typical kidnapping, the  chances of the girl still being alive were quite high.

But this wasn't a typical kidnapping.
For one thing, kidnappers rarely killed unarmed civilians in the course of a kidnapping.

The merciless and senseless  killing of the driver bothered the Inspector.
Had it been an accident?
Was it intentional?

In either case, it meant these kidnappers were unpredictable.....dangerously unpredictable.

"I think there's a good chance she's alive," was the safest answer the Inspector could give.
Any thing more, would have been a lie.
And the Chief seemed like the type that would see through that.

"I have money...Inspector" The Chief said calmly.

"I have a lot of money" he sighed heavily and continued.

" I am willing to do whatever it takes to bring my daughter  back."
"That's very good sir....your co-operation with the authorities is ......."The Inspector began.
before his sentence was cut short.

"I don't trust the Nigerian police." The Chief said flatly as he  turned around to face the Inspector.

".....but the Commissioner assigned you to me .....said that you're the best "

The Inspector had straight  expression on his face he was not a vain man to be swayed by compliments or flattery.

"But like I said.....," the Chief continued,

"I don't trust the Police.....whatever it takes, my daughter must be brought back alive......WHATEVER IT TAKES" the Chief said, eyeing the Inspector.

There was silence between the the two men for a long time.

The Inspector understood him perfectly.




The night was cold and slightly windy.
The car  was driving through a remote bush path.

JOEL jumped out of the car as soon as they stopped. He had been fighting back the urge to throw up ever since they grabbed Beatrice.

He ran into the bushes and emptied the contents of his stomach unto the ground.He arched his back as wave after wave  of his stomach contents came rushing to the surface.

All he kept seeing was  his hand holding the gun to the driver's head and pulling the trigger. The explosion that followed terrified him.

"Killing is easy....it's living with it that's hard." someone once told him.

The other two gun men got out of the car. They had all taken off their masks.

Chinedu fished into his pocket and brought out a bent out of shape stick of cigarette. He had been saving it all day.

He lit it and continued to stare at Joel, blankly.

"Congratulations,...... you're a murderer" he said coldly as he puffed some smoke.

Abiye stared at Joel in disgust.
Weak! he thought.
What sort of a man takes life and then feels bad about it afterwards? Only the weak kind. He thought to himself.

"....Driver didn't have to die but......" said Chinedu with a playful shrug.
"......these things happen" he concluded with a chuckle.

JOEL'S stomach hurt.There was nothing else to "throw-up" but he still felt nauseous.

"We shouldn't have done this," he said slightly breathless as he straightened himself up.They had stopped in front of an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town.

The place hadn't been random. It had been selected primarily because of it's remoteness.
There were no houses for miles.
Nothing.....just the endless chatter of crickets and nearby frogs.

"We really shouldn't have done this "Joel muttered under his breath.

"Says the guy who just committed assault, kidnapping and murder in one afternoon."Chinedu said casually as he massaged the body of his pistol.

"Is everything a joke to you?"Joel said glaring at him.

"Maybe it is, what are you going to do about it?" Chinedu asked, flicking his cigarette away.
Still clutching his gun.

Chinedu took three casual strides towards  Joel.

For almost  minute, the two young men stood glaring at each other in a mini face off.

Chinedu was easily a head taller than and more "muscled".

Every thing about this guy was intimidating. Joel thought.
Joel had no doubts that if he had attempted any form of physical confrontation, Chinedu would have him on the ground faster than he could say "beat-down".

They continued glaring at each other in the chill of the night.

From the trunk came the muffled screaming and thumping sounds

"Stop this rubbish abeg,and come and help me with the trunk" Abiye said offhandedly.He was standing close to the two men.

The girl was awake.

Joel knew this wasn't over with Chinedu. One day they would continue this "conversation".
the thumping and muffled screams continued as Joel and Abiye managed to pry open the lid of the Jetta.


BEATRICE felt the  cool night air rush into the trunk as the lid came open..Her first thoughts were a series of confused ones when she woke up. Parts of her body ached from being roughly thrown into the trunk.
For a few seconds, she had no recollection of how she'd had gotten there.Then slowly her mind began to unravel.She remembered the car, she remembered the nozzle pointed at her face, she remembered the sound of the gun blast,the blood.....and Clement's limp body.
Oh God! She thought before she started slamming her fists against the roof of the trunk.There was no more fear in her, just anger...raw anger. The bastards  killed Clement, she thought as she continued screaming and slamming her fists against the metal.

As the lid swung open, the three stood in silence as the girl slowly climbed out.

It dawned on Beatrice that she had lost her shoes as her bare feet touched the grass. For a long time, she stood there in silence staring at the three men.
Then her eyes settled on JOEL.

For another few seconds she just stood there glaring at him.
Even in the night, the hatred in her eyes was clear.
She slowly walked towards Joel, then........
SMACK!!!!
She hit him so hard across the face that her hand hurt.

Joel just stood there silently, he didn't even raise his hands to defend himself.
The other men looked on as once again....

SMACK!!!!.
This time, Beatrice's hand felt like every bone inside it was about to break.
Again, Joel just stood there in silence.

"I said no killing,..." Beatrice said coldly into the night air.

Joel stood there not saying anything.
"...What were you thinking, Clement was harmless" she said

Then she hit him again.

This time, her hand exploded in pain as she winced holding on to it for a long time.

Chinedu chuckled.

"Oh, you think this is funny?"she said walking over to him.The pain in her hand was excruciating but the stupidity of the three men pained her even more.

"....was it you that shot him?"Beatrice asked cautiously. Unlike Joel, she knew this man wouldn't stand back to be slapped.
She shuddered to think what this man was capable of, if she were alone with him.
Chinedu threw her a a devilish look and said;
"Ask your boyfriend" nodding in Joel's direction.

Long silence

All around them were the night sounds of crickets, frogs and the distant hooting of an owl.

She felt like her head was going to explode.This was going wrong. She put her hand to her face and began to pace. She had to think.

Was the Plan still feasible?
Was it possible for them to make it out with the money?
Had Joel screwed everything up completely?

"Baby....the gun just went off...I didn't plan...." Joel began .

"Just shut up" Beatrice said in disgust.

"Yes,Joel....shut up" Chinedu said with ice in his voice.

Joel felt nothing but contempt for him.To be fair, he didn't know who made him more uncomfortable.
The quiet Abiye or the smart mouthed Chinedu.

Beatrice was pacing back and forth now as her mind raced through scenarios.
She had been planning this "event" for weeks.The last thing she needed  was some dim-witted boyfriend of hers screwing up her chance of making some good money.

She had to think.

Maybe using Joel hadn't been a bad idea.She thought.
He was too unstable and not in a good way. But in a very wimpy-sissy way. His screw-up might have just cost cost them the job.

Could they still go on to Phase2? She thought to herself.

Could he be relied upon?

It would take a lot of cool headedness to go through the next phase.

Clement was dead, and there was nothing she could do about it.At the very least, she would send his family some money.That's if her "darling" Billionaire father  wouldn't do so in the not too distant  future.
She had to be strong. If she'd learnt anything from her father, it was that only a calm mind can think.


"Okay what's done is done" she said finally after a long silence.She was amazed at how calm her voice sounded.She had rehearsed and rehearsed for this for over Five weeks.

She was ready.

"....maybe killing the driver could work in our favor..." She went on as from a distance came the sound of a truck going by on the highway.

She had picked this location herself. It was remote and miles away from anything and anyone. No one would dare to look for them here.

"I agree..." Abiye said checking his gun.

He was slightly smaller than Chinedu.But seemed more in control, more business-like about the whole thing.It scared and impressed her at the same time.

At 28, after five years of legal Practice, she'd seen her fair share of dangerous people.But Abiye was a different brand of dangerous.Unlike Chinedu, who was having fun, Abiye  seemed like he were closing a business deal.

".....our demands would be taken more seriously now that they know we mean business"he continued.
It chilled her the way he talked.

"....which is why....I think the ransom should be higher"he said with a casual shrug.

Chinedu silently concurred with a nod.

Beatrice Paused.

She didn't like where this was going.

"We agreed A million...to be split four ways"she said trying to contain the irritation she was feeling.

"That was before your bobo here....decided to kill an unarmed man" Abiye said simply as he threw Joel a funny glance.

Another image of Clement flashed through her head. He had told her that day that he was looking forward to the weekend with his wife and children.

Now he was dead, and it was all her fault.

Referring to him in death simply as an "unarmed man" seemed a little unfair.

"Two Million, to be split in four  ways same as before.The stakes and the risks are higher now" Abiye said finally.

There was another long silence as Beatrice thought this through.

"Okay,.." she said finally with a sigh.
As much as she dreaded being left alone with Abiye and Chinedu.This next phase was necessary.

She turned to look at Joel.
What had she even seen in such a weak man any way?He couldn't even hold up a gun without pulling the trigger by accident. She shuddered to think about what he would do in the next couple of hours

"...Two Million dollars it is.....lets move on to phase 2


To be continued.


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